115 days ago, little Madison Adams was living her life as any 11-year-old girl would; until a visit to the doctor turned her and her family's world upside down.
Crystal Adams, Madison's mother, says she noticed bruising, which is not normal along with a cough and headache.
It then that Adams decided to take her daughter to the doctor only to receive the shock of her life.
"It was a sudden shock," Adams said." She was perfectly healthy. She just had some bruising. It was kind of alarming because she is not one to typically get bruises. She had a cough and earache so I decided it was time to go to the doctor. And I decided while we were there to talk about the bruises. They did labs and two days later we got the call that said we needed to get to Children's [Hospital]. They said your daughter has Leukemia and you are being airlifted today."
The Cave Springs resident said the feelings of her family were numb and they were all in disbelief.
"I even remember the first week of what all happened," says Adams. "It was just so sudden and there was no plan. This is what we're doing. We had to pick a chemo; it was so much in the first few days. No parent should have to go through that."
Adams and her family began an aggressive series of treatments, traveling five hours to a city in Missouri, which forced her family to figure out a new way of life.
"We were five hours away from home," Adams says. "The first stay, she was there for five weeks. We were away from little brother, we were away from family and eventually, we were all separated as a family. It was a day-by-day thing of how we were going to do this.
Across the nation, blood shortages are at severe levels, leaving many patients with a limited supply or some cases; no blood supply at all.
In Arkansans, officials are calling the shortage "critical" where Our Blood Institute says winter months cause a significant decline in blood donations.
For patients like Madison, a low blood supply can be extremely dangerous if access is limited. Madison suffers from reoccurring noise; a side effect of her Leukemia.
"Within 10 minutes, if we can't get the nosebleed to stop, we're headed to the ER," Adams says. " Sometimes they have it local, but most of the time they do not. They have to get it from Missouri. So we're there with the nosebleed for a couple of hours."
Adams says on those types of days the helpless feeling as a parent can be overwhelming when there's nothing she can do to stop her child's pain.
However, Adams says Madison's bright spirit and optimism keep their family inspired and give them hope.
"She [Madison] has been amazing through this whole process," says Adams. "I think watching her not complain. She's just such an inspiration. For an 11-year-old to go through all of this and barely complain. It's amazing to watch. She has changed us for sure."
Adams says she's depending on the help of her community and neighbors from around the state to help her daughter and other cancer patient gain access to more blood.
"I know that there are a lot of people who are unable to donate blood. That's totally understandable," Adams says. "But what I don't think a lot of people understand is the amount of blood that these cancer patients need. Leukemia patients go through it a lot more. We're talking 16 weeks so far and she's had 37 units of red blood cells and platelets combined."
The Adams family, along with the Cave Springs community are snapping their fingers to the beat of a blood drive they will host in Madison's honor and are still accepting appointments.
"February 17 in Cave Springs Arkansas, we have it from 1:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m.," Adams says. "We have two slots still available. So we can share that link and everyone can sign up online and will take about an hour of your time."
Madison has two chemotherapy treatments left and is currently in remission.
"She is in remission," Adams said. "We completed three rounds of chemo and have two more so far. That's our goal; we're hoping for two more and that's it."